The best part of Marvel's entire Dark Reign event? That might end up being Dark Wolverine, where Wolvie's son pisses everyone off by stealing daddy's identity. We spoke to writer Daniel Way about the series.

Way — who created Daken, Wolverine's son, for his Wolverine: Origins series in 2007 — may not have been the one to provide this sub-Oedipal twist to the character (That would be Dark Reign architect Brian Michael Bendis), but he's certainly happy that it happened:

Daken was created in a vacuum — I didn't know or ask about anyone else's plans when I pitched the idea.... Having Daken join the Avengers wasn't part of the original plan, but it's definitely a cool turn of events. Daken's story will eventually loop back into the Origins storyline — but now, with this new wrinkle, it'll have a lot more impact when it happens.

The "Avengers" he's talking about are the Dark Avengers — Norman Osborn's personal team of supervillains pretending to be superheroes, which also includes Spider-Man villain Venom masquerading as Spidey, and Osborn himself wearing an Iron Man suit as the red-white-and-blue Iron Patriot. Given that line up, you'd think that Daken would fit right in, but Way - who'll co-write the monthly Dark Wolverine with Marjorie Liu - has a more generational than ideological conflict in mind for the character:

I look at it like this: The 60's were great. Peace and love in the front and The Weather Underground 'round the back. But, as a generation, they failed. The next generation was born in lockdown, under the intense scrutiny of the federal government, who had made sure that what happened during the 60's couldn't happen again. They didn't even get the benefit of the illusion that their parents had. That's where, in my opinion, we're at with this new generation of characters — Generation Fuck You. The previous generation of superheroes were the Hippies, the idealists. This new crew are the nihilists — the Punks. Their parents didn't make the world better, they just taught the bad guys to be smarter.

Asked whether Dark Wolverine's rise to prominence will be temporary, Way's giving nothing away ("Dark Wolverine will focus on Daken as he plays the part of Wolverine for Norman Osborn's confederate Avenger team, while at the same time furthering his own own, personal agenda. How fucking pro is that answer?"), but when it comes to pitching people on the book itself, he's right there:

Dark Wolverine will officially kick off The Summer of Hate. This isn't your daddy's Wolverine, and there is no future.